Who is the most important person in your life? The answer will suprise you

The most important person in your life is yourself – and you should try to talk yourself up more.

Is your mind full of self doubt and worry about the negative effects of your actions? Think about the positive as well.

We spend so much effort and time to control what other people think of us. This is a mental burden on your mental faculities and lends itself to second guess yourself. You set your behaviours on how they may think… and in that way you are falling into their frame

Are you afraid to approach a lady?

You are thinking ahead of the game – I want this lady to like me and I don’t want to be rejected. However, we forget some other facts that we know and rely on the feeling beforehand

1. Not everyone likes us from first impressions and we don’t need them to. This is a fact of life. Everyone is different and so to think that everyone likes you is just plain ridiculous
2. The person is having a bad day. She may just be plain not receptive of unsolited attention, she might have had some jerk approach beforehand. This are variables on the night that we do not know. She could have a boyfriend.
3. That you will pick her up. Even if she is receptive at first from first impressions, the thought that you will have 100% strike rate in getting these fickle girls number is a stretch. We put this as not 100%
4. There is no Loss for being overconfident. It is an assymetric decision that you can make.

Hence with these facts in our mind we should remind ourselves prior to saying hello to a chick

1. We are practicing our awkward muscle of say hello. For all practice there is only learning, if we get her number this is bonus points
2. We are never their to pick up. The mental thought process should be meet new people. This includes guys as well. Talk to everyone you meet and this will get easier as the night progresses as you are just there to have a good time.
3. I remember reading that if you were to tell a person that they won 1mil dollars would you be hesitant to go up to the person and talk to them? No, then it should be the same with the people you meet. Your mere presence provides the ‘value’ to others. People will have their own ‘filters’ to sort the gold from the chaff.
4. You will not have a 100% success rate, not everyone will like you. However in the interest of positive energy, everyone will generally be nice about it. There is little downside with being all happy and huge downside if you rub people the wrong way in these worlds.

How to cook tender and juicy chicken breasts. Don’t compromise with dry chicken breasts again

It’s been a hard day at the gym and you need to get the protein into the body to grow. The best and cheapest way to do this – chicken breast. Chicken breast the staple for gym rats, health afficionado, paleo, carnivore. We have invented all ways to cook the chicken breast so it is paleatable to us and not turn out bland or dry – cutting into thin slices, pounding, adding seasoning, dipping into sauce and deep frying.

However, the fundamental problem remains – chicken is horrifying to handle and the breast is just too dam thick! Everytime we cook as a whole breast the chicken ends up being too dry on the outside or not moist on the inside. We cringe at every bite of chicken breast, comforted in the fact that it is essential to growing muscle. Kind of like going to the dentist is neccessary to have clean teeth. A neccessary evil.

What if there was another to cook chicken breast? One that does not add any fats, minimalises chicken juice handling, and ensures that the chicken is tender. Sous Vide has entered the room.

Sous vide is a fairly recent invention (this is why your noona might not have taught you it). It all started in the mid 1960s and started gaining popularity in the 1990s with equipment. Still – the equipment was fairly expensive and finding information about sous vide back in the day was fairly hard.

However, with China being the world’s factory and the obliquity of the internet – Sous vide information has never been more available, and cooking with it never been so cheap!

Normal cooking is the application of heat from one external source (usually burner, induction) and the heat is not regulated. That is, we do not maintain a constant temperature. It starts cold, warms up and then gets too hot! That is why we need to adjust the heat settings. What this causes is the outside of the chicken to be cooked first and the inside then to be left raw.

Now we don’t want to eat any raw chicken so we need to let that heat travel to the middle. But the outside is ALREADY COOKED! So we end up cooking the outside of the breast even more and hence it becomes dry.

Sous vide cooking is characterized by low-temperature cooking, a longer period of cooking than conventional cooking, a container (such as a plastic bag) that separates the food from its heating environment, and pressurized enclosure using full or partial vacuum.

The use of temperatures much lower than those used for conventional cooking is an essential feature of sous vide, resulting in much higher succulence at these lower temperatures, as cell walls in plant-based food do not burst. In the case of meat cooking, tough collagen in connective tissue can be hydrolysed into gelatin, without heating the meat’s proteins high enough that they denature to a degree that the texture toughens and moisture is wrung out of the meat.

Juicy whole chicken breast

Highly recommend getting a sous vide machine. You can get one here for as little as $219 at amazon Anova Sous Vide Cooker. You probably eat chicken every week so for less than 1 dollar a day you can get juicy chicken breast!

Discover how to create darker blacks cheaply. What TV manufacturers will not tell you.

Does your TV look different at home than it does when you bought it? Does it not look as good? This is because the conditions between your home and the store are different.

We can optimise the condition so that colours aret better by setting up bias lighting. Look at the image below.

The bar that stretches across the center of the image is one constant shade of gray (RGB: 142, 142, 142) but to you it appears to be lighter in on the dark side of the gradient and darker on the light side of the gradient.

This effect is known as the simultaneous contrast illusion and it shows how your eyes perceive gray to be darker and richer when seen against a lighter background (on the right side), but more washed out when seen against a dark background (on the left side).

Illuminate the wall behind your screen and the same contrast illusion takes effect: the grays and blacks on your screen appear richer, and the contrast seems stronger between them and the surrounding area. This makes your blakers black without shelling for a new TV that costs thousands!

How to easily Select and Set Up Bias Lighting

Fortunately for you, it’s really cheap to implement a perfectly functional bias lighting system.

There are very pricey ways to go about doing it (such as purchasing a Philips TV equipped with their custom color-shifting bias lighting Ambilight system) but there’s absolutely no need to incur such expenses when there are plenty of inexpensive alternatives.

First, let’s break down what makes for a good bias light and why. Then, let’s look at some economical DIY and off-the-shelf solutions.

Selecting a Bias Light

Colour temperature is important

Light bulbs have a color temperature listed using the Kelvin Color Temperature Scale. Lower numbers correspond to warmer and more red the light; the higher numbers, the cooler and more blue the light. Candle flames are 1,900K and are very warm and cast a reddish/yellow light. Standard incandescent light bulbs are ~2,800K and quite warm. “Cool White” or “Daylight” bulbs have color temperatures ranging from 5,000-6,500K.

That temperature we want is 6500K. That is the reference point used in the industry that both screen manufacturers and content creators use.

The bulbs (CFL or LED) inside your TV or monitor are calibrated to 6500K. The film and digital video is color corrected to have a 6500K white reference point. The editing suites where content is edited and worked on have 6500K bias lights. Regardless of whether you use a fluorescent tube light, a strip of LEDs, or an incandescent light bulb, you want one with as close to a 6500K color temperature as you can get if your goal is to maximize the quality of the on-screen image.

This immediately rules out the majority of lighting we use around our homes, as there is a distinct consumer preference for warmer light. What makes for a homey and warm feeling in your abode makes for a poor bias light.

I’ve already done the research and found the best and cheapest product. Buy it on amazon here using this link https://amzn.to/3pCT3WR

3/12/20 – Second edition

I applied Jordan Person’s 12 Rules for life and the results suprised me

The title 12 rules for life sounds like something that you should already know – rules that you’re father would have taught you when you’re growing up. However, my father was no clinical psychologist like Jordan Person is, so I thought it would be interesting to see what rules he presents.

I read the book and here is my take on the rules.

“Stand up straight with your shoulders back” I took this as meaning to be confident, and this really helped me feel better. I never had a rule to tell me always be confident – so this rule allowed me to get outside of my own head and start doing what I wanted with facing the consequences later.

“Treat yourself like you are responsible for helping” I give advice to my brothers for what was best – but in my own life things were not going so well. I would tell my friends to do something that I was afraid of doing myself. Often times I catch myself and use this rule to work towards my goal

“Make friends with people who want the best for you” I think a big part of this is listening to your friends as well – because if you do not listen then for them – what is the point. This rule sets forth that you really can’t be having negative nancies always in your life. Once you are an adult it is you who chooses to hand out with

“Compare yourself with who you were yesterday, not with someone else is today” This made it easier to manage my growth as my mantra is now to be better than yesterday. What can I improve today that makes me better than yesterday.

“Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them” I have no children so could not apply this rule

Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world” I feel that this rule is related to Stephen Comeys 7 Habits of highly effective people – there is no point to waste time worrying about things that you cannot effectively change. So just leave it and work on things that you can. I have been doing this and trying not to read the news or talk about stuff that I have no interest in.

“Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient)” The world is full of distractions and I am trying to focus on what is important. The apps like news,youtube, instagram, twitter all have algorithms designed to keep you on the screen. I have recognised this and tried to restrict myself on these platforms.

“Tell the truth — or, at least, don’t lie” I never lie so this was an easy rule to follow.

“Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t” I’ve been trying to keep a more open mind and not be instantly dismissive

“Be precise in your speech” I am using this in my own internal speech to stop behaving so irrationally. I need to verbalise or see what I am doing in the present moment and how does this assist me in reaching my goals.

“Do not bother children when they are skate-boarding” This rule is related to child-rearing which I am not doign yet

“Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street” Life is short, it is monotonous, with much pain and suffering. Enjoy the little things throughout the day

To conclude, the rules set forth in this book really give a different perspective and made me look at my life in a different way. I think it is a great way to verbalise habits that we grow up accustomed to and see as normal. If you consider that your life isn’t normal then the rules set forth in this book can serve as a baseline as you go through life. Buy it from Amazon here 12 Rules for Life

Why did I buy a standing desk

Working from home, I was spending 8hrs hunched over looking at my laptop screen. I thought to myself – this can’t be good for my long term health. And sure enough our sendentary lifestyle is a major cause of disease.

And really, this is all very preventable, if we recognise the problem. That is the screen is not at the right height for us to view due to the portable nature of laptop.

Are you sitting at your desk like this?

Standing desk considerations

• Table depth and width. We think the bigger the better to allow more desktop space and adjustability. However we note that note everyone has alot of space. I recommend at a minimum 1200×600. And this dependent on having the monitor screen on a separate arm. 1200×700 if not.
• Separate keyboard on mouse. If the time is greater than 2hrs I recommend a portable laptop stand and bluetooth keyboard. This allows you to raise the height of the screen to match your body.
• Separate monitor. If this is a permenant installation
• Bias lighting behind the monitor
• Anti-fatigue matt. Helps to stay on your feet

As can be seen below the tables are all very similar.

Description	Price (AUD)	Table size	Min-Max Height	Max Load	Table travel	Features
Omni Desk	$674	1500x750mm	620-1255mm	125kg	38mm/s	3 memory presets anti collosion dual motor
Ikea	$729	1800x750mm	645-1275mm	125kg	38mm/s	3 memory presets dual motor
Artiss	$720	1524x750mm	600-1250	130kg	43mm/s	3 memory presets anti collision dual motor

Life is short

There are many ways to view life and i think looking on the bright side is always the better option. Asymetry.

We always have a dialogue within ourselves and impose our thoughts on other people and not by overtly critical. Life is not perfect and we are overly critical of others. Instead I should be focusing on what is good – not what is bad. This will change my mental outlook when I am speaking to people because of my solipsism i think they are also critical of me.

We cannot control people’s reaction so it is better to man and disrupt their frame.

In the film Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Javier Bardem’s Character “Life is short, Life is dull, life is full of pain and this is a chance for something special”

This is another way of phrasing YOLO, but notice that this frame makes you feel a whole lot more spiritual and I think would have a higher chance of success. Javier personifies is the confident artistic charasmatic archetype that is different from the cookie-cutter corporate drones. He is seen as warm and passionate.

We compare this frame to that of logical reasoning – “We should try all things in life so why not.” Notice how this sentence is not persuasive at all. Cold logical reasoning does not sell. We can see this with Vicky’s rebuttal.

I also notice rewatching the clip is to share inspiration, joy and not focus on the bad feelings. “ll show you around the city and we will eat well. we’ll drink good wine and we’ll make love”